Describing himself as ‘a reggae artist first and foremost’, Miami-residing Kēvens jumped into the world of drum and bass in the late nineties. After failing to join the military, directionless Kēvens began learning to DJ, kicking off a career that has now spanned over thirty years – as a turntablist, MC, singer, songwriter and even actor. In that time he was adopted by Anthony and Richard Booker – the brothers of musical legend Bob Marley – to form reggae troupe ‘Le Coup’. The group disbanded in 1997, sending Kēvens on his path to shape his sound in d&b.
Performing as a live drum and bass act, Kēvens’ music has taken him to all corners of the world, from Ultra Music Festival in South Korea, to the White Nights festival in St. Petersburg. In Russia, he broadcasted his sound to over five million people across the country, before rubbing elbows with music icons The Jacksons. Now, his latest single ‘Legal Dreamers’ is climbing Jamaica’s charts, combining his reggae roots with his passion for drum and bass. After spending a week in California, Kēvens touched back down in Miami and immediately caught up with UKF to talk about his new track, turn back the clock on his musical journey and use his sound to spread his message: ‘Positivity is a necessity’.
So firstly, how are we doing and how is everything going in the Kēvens camp?
Very well thanks! I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me, I’ve been a huge fan of UKF for years. I just got in from a long week working night and day in LA, promoting my latest release ‘Legal Dreamers’. As we speak it is sat at number two in the Jamaican reggae charts! It’s very exciting, the first reggae, jungle drum and bass style tune in that chart. It’s a very good feeling seeing the positive response.
Glad to hear and congratulations on the success of ‘Legal Dreamers’. Since releasing the song in summer you have put all of your energy into sharing this track?
Indeed, my team and I have spent a lot of energy promoting this song globally. I would not have been able to pull this off without the assistance of junglist producer Danny Styles, my engineer and right hand man in the studio Ozzy Carmona. I’ve been a performance artist my entire life, but one thing I have never done is take one of my songs and get it onto the radio. I wasn’t able to give it the proper attention until now. And although I’ve got some momentum as a live performer, I felt people didn’t know who I truly was. So I made a conscious decision to change that with this song, pushing it all the way, knowing this one will change the dial for me. This is all from my little label and crew who’ve been working with me for years. We intend to keep pushing until we can push no more! I have a lot of other songs, but my advisors told me to keep promoting this track! There’s all kinds of places it could go, including the Billboard Charts.
And what have you got lined up now that you’ve come back from California?
Oh, straight back into the studio. I have follow up songs, collaborations with different artists, and I am also starting to activate more radio promotions in South America. I had a dozen dates in the works in that region before the pandemic, they all got shut due to lockdown. Now I am slowly reopening those gates. Being in the Jamaican reggae charts has definitely been a great thing and opened a lot of doors, I am going to take that opportunity and go full speed ahead with it. The shows will come later, I am not worried about that.
Sounds like a plan! So let’s take it back and find out more about Kēvens. Like you said, first and foremost you are a reggae artist. Can we hear more about how you first got into music?
Music was always a part of my life, in high school I played the trombone. Before music, there was flying, and after high school my dream was to be a pilot. I went to join the military, but didn’t pass the entry test. I was a skinny, weak kid who didn’t have 20/20 vision. I didn’t know what to do, I got a day job driving a small truck and making deliveries, and on the side I was slowly learning to DJ. Keep in mind, back in the late eighties, DJing wasn’t in fashion. You were making about 50 to 100 dollars a night.
Being part of the soundsystem culture at the time, I was MCing as well for a little sound called Virgin Virgo, polishing my skills. After getting the ball rolling with music I started asking more of myself. I got into live music, jumping on any band stand who’d give me the mic. And just by chance during a night I was DJing, a guest bass player and I jammed together with the local reggae band Copacetic. He loved what I was doing. He said ‘man I love your energy and style. I have a little musical project I am doing, come by my house if interested?’.
So I took his number, and a few days later I went to his house in the middle of nowhere. The house was so big! I walked into this room filled with pictures and memorabilia of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Pictures of Bob you’ve never seen before. I’m thinking this must be the rarest collection of Bob Marley, but everything was just lying around! I didn’t know where I was or who I was really with, but I just carried on without saying anything!
So we were jamming, four of us for about an hour and a half. Then the other door that led into the dining room slowly opened. This Rasta woman comes in: ‘Gentlemen, can I get you something to drink?’. I looked and stopped for a second. I thought ‘it cannot be’. I looked back at the walls covered with photos of Bob Marley, then back to this woman. ‘That’s Bob Marley’s mother!’. I looked back to this stranger who invited me to jam, and he was laughing ear to ear! So I had jumped into a band with Bob Marley’s brother, Anthony. And I had no idea!
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No way! I bet that was quite a shock when you finally found out who you were with?
Absolutely, but there was even more. We walked into the dining room. Alongside his mother was his sister Pearl, nephews Julian and Rohan Marley and brother Richard also listening to me play music. I was embarrassed, I closed up, knowing at the time I was fresh and green, my singing voice was terrible. Pearl was so kind when she saw me shaking. ‘You are here for a reason, my brother Anthony believes in you and you sounded good,’ she told me. I was able to breath a bit easier after that. So I got my first band and it was with Bob Marley’s brothers themselves!
That’s not a bad place to start is it?
Exactly. The training I got from working with Anthony was really serious, we would jam from noon to midnight, two to three days a week. Him on bass, a drum machine, me on trombone and my lyrics book. I would exhaust myself writing new songs for every track that had a groove, trying to keep up. At first I was thinking I didn’t want to be replaced from the band. But later on realised I was never going to be replaced, because Anthony chose me. In his head, I was the front man for ‘Le Coup’.
In 1990, less than a year later, Anthony unfortunately passed away, may he rest in peace.
I said to myself I have to pay tribute to this man, he changed the trajectory of my life. Anthony’s brother Richard and I got close and he became my best friend. I continued to hang at Bob’s house and felt like an extended member of the family. It got to the point I was calling Bob’s mother ‘mom’.
Through them I developed a Marley-esque vibe in my musical attitude. After Anthony passed on, his mother and brother gave me their blessings to continue with the band Le Coup. I did for seven more years before the group disbanded. I then switched up my style and that is how I took my first steps into the world of drum and bass.
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Okay so let’s talk about that transition into d&b, how did it come about after spending so many years doing reggae?
Well after being part of Le Coup for so many years, I thought it was time to go into a different direction . That was in 1996. I had known the sound of jungle for a short while. I first went to the UK back in 1994, 95 as I was part of a major TV campaign over there. I went partying and heard this ragga sound, it was wicked!
I thought it was similar to what I had already been doing, just more futuristic. Then in 1997, Roni Size and Reprazent were the opening act for a group I was MCing for at the Cameo theatre in Miami Beach, called ‘Rabbit In The Moon’. Their show blew me away, I realised ‘oh, you can do this live!’. That completely opened my eyes. That was when I decided ‘I need to figure out how to do this’ organically.
Two years after that I met the Bassbin Twins who did breakbeat. I ended up releasing my first record with them ‘We Play Music’ in 2000. By that time, I had a lot of momentum with performing live drum and bass.
But it wasn’t as common for artists to perform drum and bass live, as opposed to playing records on turntables?
Exactly, when I started doing live d&b in the scene in 97, almost nobody had really heard of it here in the states. Live drum and bass with no sequencing! Which was exciting, as I wanted to make it my thing. I didn’t have any support from labels, so took it upon myself to make it happen. That’s maybe why it has taken me so long to come around. I may have started too early, jumped the gun! Nowadays, it’s much more common to see live d&b drummers, a full band creating a full musical spectrum.
But you stuck with it from the beginning of your career, and started getting more bookings?
I did. At the beginning of my career I didn’t have much money to promote. One thing I would do is print flyers, loads on a weekly basis. A process I started doing when I used to throw house parties after high school for my little sound system, and continued doing for Le Coup with great success .
I used to go to this printing company AdWright for my flyers and met a man named Jason Donovan, who is also the founder of Zenfest, Florida’s first rave festival. One Friday I went to pick up my flyers and they weren’t ready. Jason was like ‘Kēvens, I am sorry’. He told me he could bring the flyers on Saturday night before Le Coup’s performance. Them days, my band had a residency at The Edge, a club in town that after midnight gets flocked with ravers. At the time I wasn’t paying too much attention to the merging of things, a lot of ravers were coming to see me before the headlining Djs of that week. I was witnessing the rise of the Florida rave movement and a part of it without realising it.
That Saturday night Jason walked into The Edge, and saw these ravers listening to me. ‘I do a festival for this exact sort of crowd called Zenfest. Do these people follow you everywhere?’ he asked. ‘Why do you think I print 5000 flyers a week from you guys?’ I said. He asked if I would be interested in performing for him, before making an offer I couldn’t refuse! It was the biggest payday I had at the time to play a show. That was a huge moment for me, and after that I quit Le Coup. I decided this was the route I wanted to take my solo career to.
Dedicating a life to music, who would you say are your favourite artists and influences?
So I speak several languages, and I grew up listening to music from different countries. On my mother’s side there was French music, and Spanish music from my father’s. There is Cuban music, merengue, salsa and everything else in between. Of course reggae – living in Miami for so long, you are surrounded by a lot of cultures but I gravitated towards the music from Trench Town Jamaica.
Believe it or not, back then as an upcoming DJ and MC, I also had an affinity for English reggae. Coming from the sound system world, other sounds I followed was Saxon. I was introduced to Smiley Culture, Asher Senator, Tippa Irie to name a few, alongside Aswad and Steel Pulse. I didn’t want to mimic their sounds, but I was heavily driven by them styles. I just love their stuff, very different to Jamaican sounds.
Yellowman was also somebody I really loved. As a young MC, he was the first person I tried to emulate. I really liked his style. And his former performing partner Fathead was the first celebrity I met in the dancehall arena. It was actually at my apartment complex where I was living at the time, as my mother was an active dressmaker in the community and he would come to get his trousers or shirts fixed! I had a little setup I would practise DJing on, and he would jump in and MC on my little sound system. Fathead was one of my earliest teachers.
And how about in drum and bass, which artists stood out to you?
My very first influence in d&b was LTJ Bukem. What he was doing, with the keys, beats, his arrangements, it was a whole experience. That’s the sound that has been dominating the culture in my head, the Bukem sound. On top of that, Requisite Music – everybody in that camp, I love them all. Goldie, Bukem, Photek, Rudimental too.
One person who influenced me heavily in the beginning of my solo career was Leo Purvis from the SoulPro crew, who ended up becoming my first producer. In my album ‘We Are One’, he produced a few of the original tracks that I put lyrics to, before bringing my band to learn and adopt, including ‘Freedom For Humanity’. That man was my guide, before I understood what I had to do and make the music my own. You know when first getting into a scene there are people who show you the ropes. Without him, I would not have had my first album. He explained to me d&b composition, how the beat is made, everything. After Leo, there is Michael Zawadzki from the UK who worked with me for years, helping me put together tracks my drummers can play for my live shows.
Genuinely, drum and bass is the best music on the planet for me. Of course I love reggae, calypso, disco, techno, house, all of that. But d&b jungle to me is an extension of reggae, which is my roots. It’s one genre you can constantly add to. You can make jazzy d&b, rock d&b, reggae d&b. All my life, I’ve been experimenting a lot with my music, I am always thinking ‘where can I take this?’. Now I believe I found the balance.
So as you’ve mentioned, alongside the music you also do acting and filming. How did you first get into acting?
I was going out with a young lady from Japan, who was an upcoming star at the time. I used to take her to castings. Back then I had my hair in funky dreads, straight up. The casting directors were telling her, ‘your boyfriend has an interesting look, he should get in front of the camera’. They were urging me to act.
But at the time I was a very shy performer. One day I was speaking to my good friend Calton Coffie, the former lead singer of Inner Circle who wrote ‘Bad Boys’. He was one of the best front men I knew, may he rest in peace. He was also a teacher to me in many ways, and often gave me tips on my stage presence and performances. So I thought, you know what? Between my girlfriend, casting directors and Calton Coffie, I decided to go take some acting classes and help improve my stage presence for the music.
It worked out in so many ways. Although music always came first, but I did get a lot of acting gigs, making a living playing bad man in B movies and a few TV adverts, and I continue to do so to this day.
And you were doing some filming while out in California?
Yes, for the last part of my trip there’s a music festival in California – Escape Music Festival. I am playing a witch doctor character. It’s funny because the character is a complete opposite to myself, as my whole vibe is about positivity. But it was a lot of fun to play this role and be a part of the circus .
So from all your acting experience, one particular project that I would like to chat about is the Lilt advert you featured in!
Yes, the Lilt advert was a funny one because at the time I didn’t know what Lilt was. The writers were looking for this one person all over the UK, all over the world and found me in Miami. For that audition, I was the last person on the casting sheet, and funnily enough I got the part. When I saw the script, there was a drawing of the type of person the casters were searching for. It looked exactly like me, it must have been fate!
We ended up shooting in Barbados. When I did it, honestly I had no idea what Lilt was! But everybody I knew from the UK was like ‘wow, you’re the man from the Lilt advert!’. To this day there are some who still talk to me about it, and wowing. On the acting side I’ve done some cool adverts, either for Coca-Cola, Heineken or Fox Baseball. But the Lilt advert will always be a standout one for me, and I’m proud to have been that guy you’ve seen on your TV screens all those years ago.
Obviously you’ve had a career that has spanned a long time, and over that time you have travelled the world, worked with a multitude of people and put on memorable performances. Are there any particular moments that have stayed with you?
Oh, so many moments. In 2013 I got the opportunity to play at the White Knights music festival in St. Petersburg, which was being broadcasted on TV1, Russia’s premiere Television station. After the first night I played, I was told by the organisers that there were 50 million people watching me. I did not believe it, it didn’t make any sense! A couple of years later, a Russian friend explained – Russia has a lot of territories who watch that programme, when you combine them all, 50 Million viewers kind of makes sense.
I did my first show and the audience loved it. On the second night they switched my schedule. The stage manager came to me and said ‘Kēvens, there’s been a change of plan, you are now going on after The Jacksons’. I thought okay, Russia has their own band called The Jacksons, fair enough. And usually before I play, I pray first and go behind the stage to get a feel for the place. At Russia’s Ice Palace arena, I walk behind the stage, and accidentally bump into this guy. ‘I’m sorry’ I said to him. But then I take a second look – it’s Tito Jackson. Turns out the Jacksons they were talking about were THE Jacksons!
Wow, I bet that must have been a shock for you?
It did throw me off at first! Obviously everyone knows The Jacksons – if you sing, or perform or simply listen to music, you have to rate Michael and his brothers as the pinnacle of performers. And growing up watching them all on TV, you dreamed you’d be performing after The Jacksons. Behind the stage, they were all looking at me like ‘who are you?’. I told them I was following their performance. It was all good! It was only a brief interaction, as they had to go on minutes after our small chat and do their thing. But I took a moment to stand where they stood – took a deep breath, felt their energy.
That’s a big ask to follow The Jacksons, were you feeling the pressure at all?
So my band members came to me and they were literally shaking. I told them ‘they are human beings, they are people. We have been doing it for a long time, let’s go out there and do our thing.’ For me, part of the reason I was able to remain composed was because I had the privilege of playing with Bob Marley’s brothers. From playing with the Marleys on stage, to following The Jacksons. Both big highlights in my career.
One other memory I will mention is when I played Jason Donovan’s Zenfest, which I mentioned earlier. Not too long after my set, I was approached by a DJ friend named Mr Mendes. He said to me ‘Listen Kēvens, the crowd is getting rowdy and restless. We don’t want to get shut down by the police. You are great with people, can you just get out on the mic and do your thing?’.
I didn’t know what he meant by do my thing, since that was my first rave performance an hour earlier. I got onstage inside the main area – the audience was getting restless as the main act was taking longer to come out. I told the audience: ‘We are here for peace and unity through the beats, we don’t want no war. Positivity is a necessity!’. I kept repeating that phrase – ‘positivity is a necessity’, and so did they.
While I was doing that chant, DJ Monk decided to spin some jungle. I thought ‘okay, let me ride this!’. I freestyled on two tracks and managed to settle the audience as a speaker and MC.
That phrase is an integral part of your identity, and your artist’s persona – ‘positivity is a necessity’. The message seems to be exactly what it says on the tin, but can you just explain what this means to you?
Alongside this experience at the Zenfest, this message also goes back to Bob Marley’s mother. In the early days I went to her and asked ‘how do you write a song?’. To me Bob Marley is the best songwriter in the world, and I know he was influenced by his mother and family life. She told me ‘write a song like you’re writing a letter’.
Assimilate everything in your life, all of your experiences. Channel everything through your heart and put it out. If you want to say it, say it with music. She taught me how important it is to be a light, just like my real mother has been telling me from when I was a child.
Life is always going to throw you punches – we live in a world of constant chaos. There are brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters. Every person faces some sort of negativity each day that the rest of the world might not know about. I say to myself, let’s be positive. I want to be a light, always trying to influence the positive, aiming to inspire others. I’m not here to teach you anything but to remind you that we are one race, the human race.
And you emphasise this philosophy through your latest track ‘Legal Dreamers’, in the lyrics, music video and the general message of the song.
Absolutely, Legal Dreamers was born out of solidarity. One day I was watching TV, and I saw a gentleman who was born in Mexico, grew up in the states and served in the U.S. military. He ended up getting deported back to Mexico. I remember getting so upset. This man served in the military, put his life on the line for this country. And they just sent him back to the place where he was born. I decided I was going to write this song about the dreamers.
Turns out I had actually written the song years ago and it’s at the bottom of my library.I did a rewrite to Legal Dreamers knowing its energy is needed to be put out in the world. I started off by promoting it in Jamaica. I have a good idea of what Jamaica will appreciate, the sound system is a big thing over there. The song starts with the horns, the arrangements that took me months to put together, the bass lines and of course the message. I thought this would be the best place to test Legal Dreamers.
‘Who do we have to talk to about spreading this track in Jamaica?’ I asked my team?. My radio guy sent it to every radio DJ in Jamaica, to get this song onto the airwaves. Once the song got to them top DJs, they were immediately sold on my Reggae-EDM sound and message. I’m like ‘really?’. ‘Yes, they will play it.’
And it obviously paid off, sounds like you couldn’t have gotten a better response. Jamaica has given the green light then?
I got the green light. At this moment in time, it’s number 1 on the Jamaican charts after 22 weeks. And even better, there has never been anything with the jungle sound on that chart, according to the guy who started the charts. I converted a lot of my early Le Coup fans into d&b listeners. Now many reggae listeners are tuning into jungle and drum and bass through Legal Dreamers. I am happy about that.
And you said you are spending the rest of the year promoting Legal Dreamers as well as working on other music. Anything else we can expect from Kēvens on top of that?
Yes, I have dedicated myself to promote this all the way through, I believe this song has the ability to be a global hit. Legal Dreamers has opened some major doors for me, never before have I been in this position, speaking with people on this level. It’s very exciting. I have opportunities for some collaborations with some famous artists, so keep on the lookout for that! I have other tunes, and so we will see what happens with them. I’m all about growing the interest in my mission.
In 2024, with help from The Almighty, I’m going to be doing a lot of shows. And hopefully that entails playing in the UK. To those promoters who love artists who can put on a show with an uplifting message, they can get in touch with me. d&b jungle is an outlet that the world needs to fall in love with. And I am playing my part.
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